Wednesday, January 28, 2009

One step forward, few steps back.

Traffickers arrested, Kamalaris rehabilitated
Kantipur Report

At least 144 Kamalaris, indentured girl child labourers, have been rehabilitated and over two dozen traffickers arrested in Dang after the district was declared Kamalari-free on Jan. 14.

Police have intensified their activities at various places in the district in coordination with District Child Welfare Board and other organisations in the recent days. "Three to four cases relating to Kamalari are being registered in our office every day," said District Police Office.

Bhalubang police nabbed one Kaushalraj Sharma while he was taking Gita Chaudhary of Sonpur-7 to the capital as a Kamalari. She claimed that she has been working at Dr. Shashank Koirala's house in the capital since last seven years. Dr. Koirala, who is the nephew of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, is a Constituent Assembly member.

(Are you serious? This guy is one of 601 people in the country who will write the new constitution and have the responsibility of integrating women's rights into the highest legal document in the land, and he kept this girl as a "slave". Do you think women's rights and issues are a concern for this man? No. So if him and his friends don't stand up and advocate women's concerns in the constitution...who will? This is yet another reflection of the elites in this country keeping marginalized groups and women subservient.)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Welcome Home Erin!


After a long one year and 3 months in Nepal, the other half of Global Daughter has returned home to Seattle for a surprise 3 week visit. Erin's parents had no idea that she was coming and were in complete shock and disbelief when they saw her. While home, Erin is excited to spend time with her family, friends, and to meet some of the people who have contributed their time and talents to Global Daughter.
Erin would also love to attend and be a part of a GD Fair Trade Party, since she has never had a chance to do so living in Kathmandu. If anyone is interested in hosting one the first week of February please contact Erika at erika@globaldaughter.com. The hostess will receive a free gift, along with 50% of any item of their choosing.
Welcome back Erin! Enjoy the electricity, hot water, and delicious eats while you can!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

"Change has Come"





"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."
-The 44th President of the United States of America
Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

Let us celebrate today and take with us the call from our President to be more active in service at home and abroad.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Lights OUT.

Nepali cartoon

As Winter rolls around in Nepal, it is expected that there will be power cuts. Every year around December, the traditional dry season in Nepal, the rivers dry up and hydro-power plants are not able to produce enough power supply to suit the demand. Last winter we had up to 8 hours a day of power cuts, refer to our blog last year at this time. We thought that was bad. Currently, we lose power 16 hours a day. Yes, that means we have power for only 8 hours a day. If you are lucky enough to have a generator, this is not even enough time to recharge it for the next outage. The city is black. Industries are shutting down, restaurants are empty, unemployment is on the rise, TV stations go off air for 5 hours a day, electric-powered rickshaws are grounded, crime during power cut hours is sky-rocketing, internet is scarce, development projects are on hold, hospitals are turning patients away and water can not be pumped from the ground and distributed. All the while, the government and the monopoly, Nepal Electric Authority, are pointing fingers at each other, India and the hydro power industry. No one is taking responsibility for the crisis. 

The only thing the country is in full supply of is tension. Protests and rallies are held everyday by different groups speaking out against the government's inability to secure a basic need and function of daily life. People are fed up with the stagnation of development and an increasingly volatile situation is turning away potential foreign investments. 

For me personally and for Global Daughter, everything is connected to our ability to have electricity. Our silversmith can not produce GD jewelry without his tools, women can not work in the dark to produce our beaded goods, the protests are halting the transportation of our goods from the Terai into Kathmandu- all this among other things is making production and product development a nightmare. Our troubles can't compare to those effected most, but it does make for a very discouraging business environment. 

The joke around here is that we have returned to the "dark" ages. How can this country develop into a functioning democracy if it can't even supply power to the people. True, most backward villages have no power anyways, but for this crisis to sweep over the capital is alarming. Be assured, corrupt government officials and ministers are sitting in their over-sized houses with full power, lights on in every room and the TV running 24 hours a day. They still collect their checks, payoffs and hush money while their people starve for power, food, jobs and money. 

Score one for communism.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

TWINS!






I got to see the new twin babies, 1.5 months old down in Chitwan when I was there for the elephant futbol. They are unreal. They actually fell asleep with their bums back to back, standing up while we were there. It was so cute! This is the first time that an elephant has given birth to twins in Nepal and only the second time in the world that an elephant in captivity has given birth to healthy twins. The other two births happened in Sri Lanka. Lucky!

This mother elephant, named Devi Kali, gave birth to twin baby elephants at the elephant breeding center in Chitwan National Park (Southern Nepal) on November 6, 2008. Both babies are male. Their names are "Ram Gaj" and "Laxman Gaj" after Hindu brother gods. The first baby was born at 11:00 PM. All the elephant handlers were working for the care of the first baby but they were surprised when after four hours at 3:00 AM of November 7, another baby was born. 

The Government of Nepal has established a Breeding Center in Chitwan where cow elephants are mainly sired by dominant male wild elephants. These twins babies were sired by a wild elephant called "Romeo." He was so named because he is a "regular" visitor to the center. Later these babies will be trained and used for conservation purposes within the park. There are around 200 captive elephants in Nepal. Around 100 of them are owned by Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation and 100 by private institutions. Elephants have socio-cultural and economic significance in Nepalese society. Government elephants are mainly used for the management of national parks. (They are also the elephants trained for "elephant futbol"). Elephants are used for wildlife and park management, research, monitoring and of course, tourism. 

Friday, January 9, 2009

Elephant Olympics

The "Elephant Olympics" are held in Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal every December. Elephants and their "team" are sponsored by local and international companies or organizations. Elephant "foot race," elephant futbol (hilarious), ox cart races, horse runs- all are included in the three-day event.

I went with a few of my friends up to Chitwan to observe this crazy and unique tradition. A few weeks before, the annual elephant polo tournament was held in the same area. This brings in teams from all over the world to compete in polo competition for prize money. A guy from Seattle is actually a big sponsor for the polo here and comes every year apparently. How does one practice elephant polo in Seattle?!

Elephant futbol was my favorite. They have been training the smaller elephants for two years to kick the ball, with trunks and feet. People take it very seriously. At one point in the 4v4 match, one of the elephants, or hatti, in Nepali, scored on his own goalie. Oops, buddy. He was promptly whacked by his rider with a long stick. You can imagine it being a scene from a five-year old match at home (minus the sticks).

The crowd huddled around the field which was much smaller than a regular futbol field. One would think the pitch would be a bit bigger given the size of the players! When the ball would go out of bounds, into the massive crowd that was stacked up right on the sidelines, everyone would give a big yelp. Women in saaris scattered and kids high-tailed it off to the side. I tried to position myself far enough to be safe, but close enough to catch the action.

You know you are watching elephant futbol when...

-The goalie takes a big heaping poo in goal and then goes about his business guarding his territory
-The ground rumbles beneath your feet from over 40 tons of thunder
-The jungle is the stadium
-The players can juggle with their nose
-An autograph is not an option

After futbol I took a jungle safari on one of the elephants and saw some one-horned rhinos, crocodiles, spotted deer and heaps of other creatures. The rhinos were my favorite. I saw two groups of mother-child pairs. They look so prehistoric and fake, almost robotic. Beautiful grey color. The elephant I was riding was the oldest and tallest elephant in the park. We bonded a little bit and he invited me to come back to the jungle anytime for a chat.



This is so cool up close.



Cristiano Ronaldo.

Manchester United vs. Arsenal...jungle style!

Front row seats.


Canoe trip down the river.

My ride for the morning jungle safari. Kindred spirit.


Those are not mechanical creatures.


Spotted deer.

Prehistoric like.


Mother watching over her dead baby. Apparently she gave birth the night before and the baby died. Too weak to survive. Very touching moment.

This is not a statue.

Tharu women in the jungle.

THUNDER at the races.

Lagging behind...

Enjoying it all from the sidelines.


Runners on your mark...

The jungle makes me sleepy.

div>

Saturday, January 3, 2009

2009.



"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
~T.S. Eliot

Happy New Year from Global Daughter! Thank you for all your support and encouragement this past year. We wish you and your families many blessings this coming year. 
May we all have new opportunities to make an impact and a better understanding of our place in the world. Cheers!